Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-06-29

another. He has achieved great fortune
| He is the friend of the Church of God, tn,
friend of all good institutions, and one da,
he stands talking to the Board of Trade, O
to the Chamber of Commerce. People say
"Do YOU know who that is? Why, that il
merchant prince, and he was born o,
Elm street." But God says in regard t.
him something better than that s'Thes'
| are they which came out of great tribula
tion, and had their robes washed and made
| white in the blood of the Lamb" o, fo
some one to write the history of boy heroes
| and girl heroines who have triumphed ovel
want and starvation, and filth and rags
Yea, the record has already been made
mnde by the hand of God; and when these
shall come at last with songs and rejoicing
it will take a very broad banner to hold the
names of all the battle-fields on which they
got the victory.
Some years ago a roughly-clad, ragged
boy came into my brothers office in New
York. and said; "Mr. Talmage, lend me
five dollars" My brother said: "Who are
your" The boy replied: 81 am nobody.
Lend me five dollars" "Wkat do you want
to do with five dollarsG" ..fWell," the boy
replied, "my mother is sick and poor, and
I want to go into the newspaper business.
aud shall get home for her and will
pay you back" My brother gave him the
five dollars, of course never expecting to see
1t again; but he said; "When will you pay
it?'' The boy said: 81 will pay it in six
months, SIR" Time went by, and one day
a lad came into my brothers. Office and
said: ''There's your five dollars "What
do you meano What five dollars?" inquired
my brother. 'Don't you remember that a
boy came in here six months ago and want
ed to borrow five dollars to go into the news
paper business?" 80, yes, l remember;
are YOU the lad?'' eyes" he replied, 81
have got along nicely. have got nice
home for my mother (she is sick YETI, and
am as well clothed as you are, and there 8
your five dollars" O, was he not worth
saving? Why, that lad is worth fifty such
boys as I have sometimes seen moving in
elegant circles, never put to any use for
God or man. Worth saving! l go farther
than that, and tell you they are not only
worth saving, but they are being saved.
One of these lads picked UP from our streets,
and sent West by a benevolent society.
wrote East, saying: 81 am getting along
first rate. am on probation in the Metho-
dist Church. l shall be entered as mem
Der the first of next month. now teach
Sunday school class of eleven boys. get
along first rate with it. This is a splendid
country to make a living in. If the boys
running around the street with backing
box on their shoulder, or bundle of papers
under their arms, only knew what high old
times we boys have out here, they wouldn't
hesitate about coming West, but come the
first chance they got.' So some by one hu-
name and Christian visitation, and some by
another, are being rescued. In one reform
school, through which two thousand OF the
little ones passed, one thousand nine hum
dred and ninety-five turned out well. In
other words, only five of the two thousand
turned out badly. There are thousands of
them who, through Christian societies, have
been transplanted to beautiful homes all
oyer this land, and there are many who,
through the rich grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, have already won the crown. A lit
tie girl was found in the streets of Balti-
more and taken into one of the reform So
cieties, and they said to her: "What is your
names' She said: "My name is Mary"
"What is your other name?" She said:
sT don't know" So they took her into
the reform society, and as they did not know
her last name they always called her "Mary
Lost" since she had been picked up out OF
the street. But she grew on, and after
awhile the Holy Spirit came to her heart,
and she became Christian child, and she
changed her name; and when anybody
asked her what her name was, she said: ''It
used to be Mary Lost; but now, since have
become Christian, it is Mary Found"
For this vast multitude, are we willing to
go forth from this mornings service and
see what we can do, employing all the agen-
o;oc T bo1,o cpo1rn,, of for. fbo of
the poisoned fountains? We live in beau
tiful city. The lines have fallen to us in
pleasant places, and we have goodly her.
itage; and any man who does not like res
idence in Brooklyn must be most uncom-
Portable and unreasonable man. But, my
friend, the material prosperity of city is
not its chief glory. There may be fine
houses and beautiful streets, and that all
be the garniture of sepnlchre. Some of
the most prosperous cities of the world have
gone down, not one stone left upon anoth
or. But city may be in ruins long before
a tower has fallen, or a column has crum-
bled, or tomb has been defaced. When
in city the churches of God are full of
cold formalities and inanimate religion;
when the houses of commerce are the abode
of fraud and unholy traffic; when the
streets are filled with crime unarrested and
sin unenlightened and helplessness unpitied
that city is in ruins, though every church
were St. Peters, and every moneyed in
stitution were Bank of England, and
every library were British Museum, and
every house had porch like that of
Rheims, and roof like that of Amiens, and
tower like that of Antwerp, and traceried
windows like those of Freidburg.
My brethren, our pulses beat rapidly the
time away, and soon we shall be gone; and
what we have to do for the city in which
we live we must do right speedily Or never
do it at all. In that day when those who
have wrapped themselves in luxuries and
despised the poor shall come to shame and
everlasting contempt. l hope it may be
said of you and me that we gave bread to
the hungry and wiped away the tear Of the
orphan, and upon the wanderer of the
street we opened the brightness and bene-
diction of Christian home; ard then,
through our instrumentality; it shall be
known on earth and in heaven that Mary
Lost became Mary Found!